ANOTHER YEAR
****
Director: Mike Leigh
Screenwriter: Mike Leigh
Principal cast:
Jim Broadbent
Ruth Sheen
Lesley Manville
Imelda Staunton
Country: UK
Classification: M
Runtime: 129 mins.
Australian release date: 26 January 2011
Previewed at: Reel Room, Sydney, on 23 January 2011
Mike Leigh’s Another Year is split into the four seasons commencing with Spring. Set in London, the film opens on a doctor’s consultation with a depressed housewife who is then referred to a counsellor. The tone is set. In true Leigh style, the nitty-gritty, warts and all of everyday life are encapsulated in the patient, Janet's (Imelda Staunton), expression. She is being gently encouraged by her counsellor, Gerri (Ruth Sheen), to reveal what is bothering her and is therefore the possible cause of her insomnia. Janet’s response is to give nothing away - her resolve is typical of the British stiff upper lip. Don’t ask, don’t tell.
The story moves through the seasons and we meet Gerri’s husband Tom (Jim Broadbent), a geologist, and their son, Joe (Oliver Maltman), who is a community lawyer. They are a good, decent hard-working family who open their door to their best friends, Mary (Lesley Manville), Gerri’s work colleague, and Ken (Peter Wright), an old school chum of Tom’s. Both are totally dysfunctional, borderline alcoholics who, in some ways, regard the family as a safe haven, a place where they can open up and dump some of their anxieties.
And, dump they do… Mary is the loneliest person on earth and Manville’s performance is sensational. You feel every ounce of sympathy for her train-wreck of an existence. She is locked in a poor-me syndrome which is exacerbated by her age, her meagre finances and her totally pessimistic attitude to ‘her lot’ in life. Ken on the other hand is looking for a different life, but doesn’t have the courage to take the plunge and make changes. He finds solace in the abuse of cigarettes and alcohol.
Meanwhile, Tom and Gerri (yes, jokes are made) go about their daily routine, tending to their allotment, tending to their son and tending to their friends. They are children of the revolution, baby-boomers, who remember partaking in the occasional joint attending the occasional rock festival and listening to The Beatles, with a bit of Elvis on the side.
Leigh puts his characters and his audience through the wringer. In this bitter/sweet drama, he succeeds in jolting us out of our seats, staring family, friendship, love, joy, sadness, hope, despair, companionship and, above all, loneliness, right in the face while time passes, as it does, year after year after year. Another Year is one of his finest works - don’t miss it.
Screenwriter: Mike Leigh
Principal cast:
Jim Broadbent
Ruth Sheen
Lesley Manville
Imelda Staunton
Country: UK
Classification: M
Runtime: 129 mins.
Australian release date: 26 January 2011
Previewed at: Reel Room, Sydney, on 23 January 2011
Mike Leigh’s Another Year is split into the four seasons commencing with Spring. Set in London, the film opens on a doctor’s consultation with a depressed housewife who is then referred to a counsellor. The tone is set. In true Leigh style, the nitty-gritty, warts and all of everyday life are encapsulated in the patient, Janet's (Imelda Staunton), expression. She is being gently encouraged by her counsellor, Gerri (Ruth Sheen), to reveal what is bothering her and is therefore the possible cause of her insomnia. Janet’s response is to give nothing away - her resolve is typical of the British stiff upper lip. Don’t ask, don’t tell.
The story moves through the seasons and we meet Gerri’s husband Tom (Jim Broadbent), a geologist, and their son, Joe (Oliver Maltman), who is a community lawyer. They are a good, decent hard-working family who open their door to their best friends, Mary (Lesley Manville), Gerri’s work colleague, and Ken (Peter Wright), an old school chum of Tom’s. Both are totally dysfunctional, borderline alcoholics who, in some ways, regard the family as a safe haven, a place where they can open up and dump some of their anxieties.
And, dump they do… Mary is the loneliest person on earth and Manville’s performance is sensational. You feel every ounce of sympathy for her train-wreck of an existence. She is locked in a poor-me syndrome which is exacerbated by her age, her meagre finances and her totally pessimistic attitude to ‘her lot’ in life. Ken on the other hand is looking for a different life, but doesn’t have the courage to take the plunge and make changes. He finds solace in the abuse of cigarettes and alcohol.
Meanwhile, Tom and Gerri (yes, jokes are made) go about their daily routine, tending to their allotment, tending to their son and tending to their friends. They are children of the revolution, baby-boomers, who remember partaking in the occasional joint attending the occasional rock festival and listening to The Beatles, with a bit of Elvis on the side.
Leigh puts his characters and his audience through the wringer. In this bitter/sweet drama, he succeeds in jolting us out of our seats, staring family, friendship, love, joy, sadness, hope, despair, companionship and, above all, loneliness, right in the face while time passes, as it does, year after year after year. Another Year is one of his finest works - don’t miss it.